Oh the Rose

DESCRIPTION: A sailor, bound for the sea, asks a girl to leave her milk pails and go with him. She refuses. He sends her a letter that "he was going to serve the queen." She rejects him again. He says "Fare ye well ye saucy girl, It's better to go free"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (Greig/Duncan6)
KEYWORDS: courting ring rejection farewell flowers sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #150, p. 2, "Oh the Rose"; #147, p. 2, ("There was a lad, a nice young lad") (1 text plus 1 fragment)
Greig/Duncan6 1218, "Oh the Rose" (6 texts, 7 tunes)

Roud #6312
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Broken Down Rose
The Lassie Wi' Her Milkin Pail
NOTES [58 words]: Greig/Duncan6 deduces that Greig's #150 text is a composite of two or three texts.
The Greig/Duncan6 title is from the chorus "Oh the rose, the broken down rose, The diamond of a ring! A broken heart will surely mend again, And maybe sae will mine." The diamond ring reference is from "He wrote a letter to his love, And sealed it with his ring." - BS
Last updated in version 2.6
File: GrD61218

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